'It looks like you had close brushes with death over the years,' Marvin mused. '2008. A mutt discovered you lying in the alleyway with your throat slit. Later that year, you fell out of a 20-storey building. 2009, someone poisoned your lunch. In all those cases, you recovered. Remarkable. Some might call those miracles. Or destiny.'

'When does the brainwashing start?' Daffy snapped.

'The "brainwashing" has already begun. I simply have a way with words. No lobotomy equipment, no hypnotic video. All there is to it is my persuasion.'

Daffy stared at him skeptically.

'If I really brainwashed people, they would be mindless soldiers, with no sentient thought – zombies, you may call them. However the people I have "brainwashed" have their own emotions, weaknesses, likes, dislikes and specific traits. Perfectly normal human beings.'

Suddenly there came the sound of footsteps.

'It looks like the second assassin has finally arrived.'

Porky Pig was panicking. The forcefield was being depleted at an alarming rate, and the Mutts were taking their own sweet time going outside to stop them. He looked anxiously out of the window.

Tweety and Foghorn continued their wave of destruction. Four Mutts rushed forward, but by that time, the forcefield had collapsed entirely.

The Mutts took out their guns, but guns versus bazookas was pretty decisive. The two chickens entered the building, leaving a bloody trail behind them.

Porky hurriedly summoned the remaining two Mutts to guard his office. His palms were shaking as he gave the order. For the first time in his life, he was in real danger.

The two Mutts arrived right on time to be blown apart before they even got their guns out. Foghorn strolled into the office, and faced a terrified Porky.

'Call off the missile,' he snarled. Foghorn was a hardened criminal, and Porky found himself quaking in his shoes.

'The acid rain's coming,' Porky whimpered. 'The forcefield's down, the acid rain will penetrate right though this building and onto us. We don't have much time.'

'Agreed,' squeaked Tweety in his high pitched voice. 'That's why we need to get this over with as quickly as possible. Recall the missile.'

'Or we all die here, right now,' Foghorn growled.

Porky gulped. 'It can't be recalled,' he lied. 'Once it's launched, nothing will make it turn back. Please, we have to go to a bomb shelter before the acid rain – '

'I think you're lying,' Foghorn said, 'and for that, you're not going anywhere.' A

At that moment, there was a sizzling sound.

Steam was coming out from the roof.

'Looks like the acid rain's started,' Foghorn said evenly although, there was still a hint of fear in his eyes. 'What's your answer, Global Mayor?'

Inside the palace, the chase was continuing. Lola was running easily while Fudd struggled to keep up, panting.

'Sorry about just now, making you feel guilty and all that,' Lola said as she bounced off a wall. 'But it was the Martian's idea.'

Fudd just grunted, saving his breath.

'But what I said about Sylvester is true. He did ask me to kill you and now he' setting out hunting you down. If you two don't patch up your differences, somebody's going to die.'

The chase continued. Lola was damned quick – when she reached a corner she just bounced off the wall with her legs. Fudd, on the other had was making painfully slow progress. With a gasp, he suddenly stopped, took out his bottle of pills and swallowed the whole bottle.

Gulping them down, Fudd turned a corner and suddenly found himself in the throne room.

And what a fun evening this promised to be. Daffy and Bugs were sitting to one side, and Bugs was tied up with a rope of light. Lola stood next to the individual this whole assignment was about, Marvin the Martian.

'Ah, Elmer Fudd, you are here.'

He pointed at Fudd and in a flash the hitman found himself tied with ropes made of light. He couldn't move.

Marvin started pacing. 'Well, how to begin…'

'There's only one reason you didn't do away with us,' .Bus interrupted, 'and that's because you want us to join your ranks.'

'Bugs Bunny. I know you lost your son to a hardened criminal,' Marvin continued, reciting the fact from memory. 'I know all about you. You see, I have to convince those whom I have the least chance of convincing.'

'Why?' Fudd said,

'I have to prove a point. Now, gentlemen, give me five minutes and I will tell you why you three are working in for the wrong side. Look around you, and tell me what you see.'

'Er…walls?'

'No. Peace. Prosperity. No conflict. No riots, no gunshots, nothing. Just people living in society peacefully, co-existing in harmony.'

He leant forward. 'And that is exactly the kind of society I want to create in Looney World.'

The acid was dissolving its way into the roof. Then suddenly, a drop of green liquid worked its way through the roof and landed at Porky's feet, steaming.

'Hurry up, for all our sakes,' Foghorn urgently said.

Porky's courage finally failed him. He pointed to a button on his desk. A button labeled UN-PANIC. Tweety dropped his bazooka and raced towards the button, opened the casing. But before he could so much as touch it, a drop of acid fell.

And dissolved the UN-PANIC button into nothingness.

All three stared at the broken button in horror. But right now there were more pressing concerns. The acid was eating through the roof and now drops of it were burning holes in the office.

One drop in particular landed on Porky's knee. The Global Mayor stared at it dumbly for a moment before it registered that his knee was now reduced to the bone. He screamed.

'Shit shit shit shit,' Tweety swore repeatedly, dodging the deadly acid.

'Follow me!' Foghorn yelled, and to Porky's surprise, Foghorn hoisted him over his shoulder and hobbled as fast as he could towards the exit.

'What the – shit – are you doing?' Tweety yelped, as acid scorched his hair.

'We're not leaving him.'

'Shit,' Tweety said, but followed Foghorn out. The whole building was in a mess, with the roof collapsing and deadly green drops finding their way inside. Porky began to doubt whether they could make it out alive. And even if they did make it out, it was a ten-second sprint to the nearest bomb shelter.

Suddenly, a very weird thing happened. Three creatures suddenly ran in front of them. All of them were wearing matching dark suits and red ties.

'What the sh – '

Then shit hit the fan.

'…the Global Mayor has got it all wrong,' Marvin said. 'He thinks I'm simply want Looney World to gain more territory. Incorrect. I want to save Looney World.'

He had everyone's total attention. All eyes were on him, even Lola's.

'Only an imbecile will see Looney World isn't exactly the dream city. It is full of corruption and evil. But I believe when I come to power, I can change Looney World. I can make it a better place to live.'

'I had to see whether I was capable of doing so. That's why I located the most heinous individuals in Looney World, the dirtiest and evilest criminals, and set about convincing them to change their ways,'

'Every living thing, no matter how despicable, has a small shred of conscience inside them. I try to exploit their conscience, bring them back on the right path. Lola Bunny was a great deal of help to me. She did research.'

'I succeeded in convincing some criminals to face the light, although they were not perfect. They, in turn, believed in what I was doing and served me. Most of the others however, rejected my offer.'

Marvin sighed. 'Nevertheless, I hope once the Global Mayor knows the truth - '

Suddenly a black skinned alien rushed in. 'Sir! Sir!' he cried, pausing for breath. Everyone in the room waited for what he had to say.

'A missile is headed towards Mars!'

'What?' Lola exclaimed. 'He can't strike without warning Mars first!'

It was true. Doing that was usually frowned upon in the galaxy, as that would mean no time to evacuate civilians.

'Shoot it down,' Daffy said airily.

Marvin shook his head, and would say no more on the subject.

'Looks like we're in a tight fix,' Bugs commented. 'I suggest we leave.'

Lola glared at him. Bugs stared nonchalantly back. There was still the civilians to be worrying about. The missile had to be stopped.

'I think I know how,' Bugs said, playing the mind reader. 'Someone leaves this planet, goes to the missiles and disarms it by hand.'

'Too risky in many levels,' Lola snapped.

'Touche.'

'Actually, that's the only option,' Marvin said heavily, trying to convince himself otherwise. He turned to the three assassins and Lola. 'Who wants to be the one to do it?'

'Who is thinks my cause is worth fighting for?'

'The missile's getting nearer!' the alien aide warned.

For a moment, no one volunteered. Even Lola and the aide were struggling. Suddenly an unlikely person said, 'I'll do it.'

Marvin nodded solemnly. 'Thank you, Daffy.'

The light binds around Daffy Dodgers was released and he stood up. Everyone in the room was astonished.

'Please, no more sob stories,' Daffy said. 'Just tell me what to do.'

A full minute later, Daffy was speedily dressed in a spacesuit, complete with a jetpack. No one can move through space unaided, especially with gravity of planets around,, therefore the amount of fuel was a concern.

'Not too much fuel, or you'll go too slow,' the Martian aide was talking as quickly as he could. 'Here's a brief description of the interior of the missile.' He thrust complicated looking blueprints into Daffy's hands. 'If you can't disable it, we are all doomed.'

'We appreciate what you're doing, Daffy,' Lola said.

'No time for wishy-washy shit,' Daffy replied, already heading for the airlock. 'Bye guys!'

He was jettisoned out of the palace and fired both rockets of his jetpack immediately. He saw the missile in space, and it was closing in. Daffy flew straight towards the mechanical monster, and landed on its side.

From the vantage point in the palace, it was becoming increasingly unlikely that Daffy would be able to disarm the missile in time.

'Sir, you should evacuate,' Lola said. 'Just in case.'

'Yes, we should,' Marvin said reluctantly, and pointed to the assassins tied up on the floor. They were instantly released.

'You gentlemen can either choose to follow us or choose another mode of transport. Please do not try to kill me, after all that you have heard. I give you my word that none of my guard bots will harm you on the way out.'

Fudd, who had been strangely quiet for a while, suddenly spoke up.

'Screw this!' he shouted. 'Screw you, you, and especially you, wabbit!'

He took out his pill bottle, found that it was empty, cursed again, and strode out of the room.

Daffy frantically studied the blueprints. There wasn't much time, he had to do something. Even as he was deliberating the missile was reaching its target.

Daffy carefully unscrewed the panel of the missile (not easy when you're at a great speed). Once he did so, the panel flew behind him.

'Gone with the wind,' Daffy muttered to himself, studying the missile's interior. There were a lot of complicated wars and stuff, but he located the red wire, and cut it.

The missile kept moving.

Daffy growled when he saw that Mars was no less than a minute away.

Sixty seconds. Not enough time.

Suddenly Daffy fished out his minigun, and began pumping the trigger with all his might. Bullets bounced around the metal and sparks flew.

'Daffy!' Marvin suddenly communicated with him through the spacesuit radio. 'What are you doing?'

'There's not enough time for me is disarm it,' Daffy said, 'so I'm going to detonate it early.'

'Da – '

'The way I see it, Marvy, the choice is full damage or half the damage.'

'But Daffy, you will be – '

Daffy continued pouring bullets out. Sparks were fizzing about, it wouldn't be long now before bullets penetrated the core.

'By the way, the close calls I had the past two years?' Daffy continued, 'poisoning my soup, and all that? It was all me. I was trying to kill myself. Just thought you'd like to know.'

The metal broke apart to reveal a small green light. Uranium. Daffy carefully took aim.

'Just one last joke, Marvy. What's the difference between Santa Claus and Martians?'

Daffy fired.

'I can finally believe in Martians,' he said as the bullet hit.

Form the escape pod, Marvin, Lola and Bugs watched as the missile exploded, consuming Daffy. The explosion reached Mars, and soon its surface was scorched. When the smoke cleared, most of the Western side of Mars was on fire. And there was still the fallout to consider.

Marvin buried his head in his hands.

NB: The story is halfway done. I hope you'll stick with me till the end.